This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to a shielded electrical connector for mounting in a panel and providing floating movement between a housing of the connector and the panel.
Floating type electrical connectors have been used to compensate for positional displacement between a movable electrical connector or device and a fixed connector such as a connector mounted in an opening in a panel. For instance, in such applications as automotive applications, a pair of electrical connectors may have to be mated beneath a dashboard or at other xe2x80x9cblindxe2x80x9d locations wherein it is desirable to have a degree of floating movement of the fixed connector to make it easier to align the movable connector therewith during mating. In other applications, floating movement is desirable simply to accommodate manufacturing or assembly tolerances when a pair of connectors are mounted to different structural components of the appliance.
Heretofore, when prior art connectors have been mounted in panels with floating movement, the entire connector moves relative to the panel. When the entire connector moves, the wires leading to the connector, such as power or data lines, also must move. This places a strain on the wires and/or can cause damage to or break the plastic housing. In addition, because of the added weight and stiffness of the wires or other hardware that might be coupled to the connector, the floating movement of the connector is difficult and may even be prevented if excessive extraneous forces are placed on the floating connector. These problems are magnified when a thick cast shield or shell is mounted about a dielectric housing of the connector. Extraneous weights or limitations further might be applied to the shell.
The present invention is directed to solving these various problems in a shielded floating connector wherein the shielding shell is rigidly fixed to a panel to absorb all extraneous forces on the floating connector. The connector, in turn, has a dielectric housing which floats relative to the fixed shell and, thereby, floats relative to the panel.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved shielded, floating panel mounted electrical connector.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the floating connector includes a dielectric housing having a front mating end and a rear terminating end. The front mating end is designed for mating with a complementary mating connector in a mating direction. A metal shell is mounted about at least the rear terminating end of the dielectric housing. The shell has means for mounting the electrical connector in an opening in a panel. Complementary interengaging floating means are provided between the metal shell and the dielectric housing to provide for relative floating movement therebetween in a direction transversely of the mating direction.
According to one aspect of the invention, the metal shell is a die cast metal component and comprises a pair of shell halves sandwiching the dielectric housing therebetween. The shell halves combine to define an interior cavity within which the terminating end of the dielectric housing is exposed. The shell halves also define an access hole communicating with the cavity and through which appropriate electrical wires can extend to the terminating end of the housing. The shell halves have outwardly projecting flanges engageable with a back side of the panel, along with lips projecting forwardly through the opening in the panel. The lips of the shell halves form an enlarged aperture for receiving the dielectric housing with floating movement therebetween. The housing also includes a plurality of polarizing ribs engageable within a plurality of polarizing slots in the lips.
According to another aspect of the invention, the complementary interengaging floating means are provided by flange means projecting outwardly of the dielectric housing into groove means inside the metal shell. The groove means are sized larger than the flange means to provide the floating movement between the housing and the shell. In the preferred embodiment, the flange means comprise a circumferential flange about the dielectric housing positionable within a continuously circumferential groove inside the metal shell.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.